The
purpose of the 7 Daily Nuggets is to teach us what we need to know to live a
prosperous life; the things that we may not have learned or are not currently
learning in church, school, home or at work. Let’s apply what we learn here and
share these nuggets with others. We make a living by what we get; we make a
life by what we give. Be a giver in a world of takers.
The information
age brought to us a high speed of change. It also brought, like any other
economic age, the good, the bad, and the ugly. We now have massive amounts of
information at our finger tips.
Let’s
look at the bad and the ugly first.
The difficulty with excess information is
how to separate the 10% good information from the 90% bad information. Imagine
the tsunami of bad information out there! It is extremely important to get the
right information. The right information leads to the right thinking, the right
actions, and the right results. We all want great results in life!
The
information age fed to our egos for the instant gratification, the microwave
thinking, and the something for nothing mentality. It also brought the age of
distraction, the superficial thinking. The info age also sped up the economic
bubbles. We have survived the internet bubble, the real estate bubble, and the
financial bubble. Many other bubbles are on the horizon, bubbles yet to burst
like the personal and government debt bubbles, the dollar bubble, and the
student loan bubble. Enough of bad and ugly now let’s look at some great
things that came out of the information age.
1.
The
rise of entrepreneurship. The
availability and low cost of technology allows anyone with a dream to build a
business. Technology has become an enabler for entrepreneurs. Connectivity
empowers likeminded entrepreneurs to share vital information to build their lives
and their businesses.
2.
The
vital role of leadership. A fast
changing and chaotic world needs better leaders. We have seen more than ever
before leaders to rise fast and fall faster. Leadership can be for everyone. The
age of positional leaders is gone. Now we see the rise of the right leaders,
the servant leaders. There is no more faking. The true colors of leaders are
shown faster than ever before. We can now see a leadership revolution happening
in North America. Leadership is not a democracy; it is about delivering the right
results, helping people to live better lives.
3.
A
new competitive landscape. The internet
is everywhere and so is the competition. Gone are the days that business and
individuals competed on a local basis. Location is not as relevant as it used
to be. Competition comes fast and furious from the most unlikely places and by
big underdogs. An engineer in America no longer competes with American engineers;
she competes with Indian, Mexicans, and Brazilian engineers.
4.
The
growth of self-education. The only way
to deal with a high speed of change is to continuously get better, day after day.
Education is crucial, the principle based education, since the formal training
is no longer sufficient. Information comes and goes, principles endure. The
cost of self-education from people with results in life is extremely low compared
with the theoretical education from credentialists. Diplomas are fast becoming
worthless pieces of paper. The information age is leading us to a renascence in
self-education, taking us back to the value of learning from the classics, the
arts, history, literature, etc.
5.
The
importance of morals and ethics.
Transparency is a great thing. It is a lot more difficult to hide poor and
unethical decisions. The rise of a smarter consumer is putting pressure on
businesses to walk the talk. Replacing morals with legality sooner or later
will get noticed. Bad behavior information travels a lot faster since people
feed on them. The quick get rich schemes are being revealed even quicker.
Governments and individuals cannot continue to borrow themselves into prosperity.
The rise of the watch dogs and the sheep dogs is a good thing.
6.
The
importance of community. Reliance on big
government is starting to take its toll. Local communities are realizing that
they are the ones that must take action to solve their problems. Healthy
communities survive the economic ups and downs of nations because individuals
know, trust, and rely on each other. The
rise of loyal community is a great thing.
7.
Environmental
and social responsibility. Neglecting
our environment is no way to conduct business. Sooner or later we will pay a
high price for the harming our environment. Social issues are being brought to
surface faster than ever. Leaders must take responsibility for what the watch
dogs are telling everyone. The wolves of poverty can no longer feed on their
sheep. The huge non-profit industry is starting to be scrutinized. The right
ones with stay in business and they will learn how to operate like a business,
with results and deliverables. Giving is a way to disable people. Education is
the only way to get people out of poverty so they can live a life with dignity.
Be blessed
and be a blessing to others.
Carlos Fontana, President of Phalanx
Co-author of the book Follow to Lead (The 7 Principles to Being
a Great Follower)
Author of the book PRICELESS (Sixty-Six Simple Stories of
Reflection, Love, and Legacy)
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